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In a post on his personal Facebook page, Democratic state Rep. Kevin Haggerty rips President Barack Obama and challenges the president to spend a few days in Scranton instead of a couple of hours.

Haggerty criticized the president, a fellow Democrat, just days before Obama plans to pay a mid-afternoon visit Friday to Lackawanna College's student union, the last stop on a two-day, four-city bus tour. In an interview, Haggerty said he declined an invitation to attend.

"Our families are out of work and poor and all the president continues to do is tour the country like Bruce (Springsteen), as though seeing his face is some kind of prophetic inspiration," Haggerty wrote in the post Sunday morning. "Forget the speech, Mr. President. We are not dumb. Why don't you spend a few nights here, sit down in closed doors and ensure we don't turn out like Detroit. This is our home and we are tired of being appeased."

Haggerty said Obama should not just take "a few photos with officials excited to say they were with the president."

"We are not teenage girls and this is not a New Kids on the Block concert," he wrote. "We are in dire (straits) and all we get is a few photo ops with a few officials, and then we go back home looking into the sky for the president's plane leaving our home for another four years."

In the interview, Haggerty said he is "a supporter of the president and I was for two elections, but in this job, over the last eight months, I've seen the decay of the citizens."

"They come into my office and they can't afford medicine and they're losing their homes and I'm not going to run around shaking hands and smile when the people in my district can't find work and can't afford medicine and they're losing the homes where they raised their families," he said.

He invited the White House official who called to ask Obama to host an economic summit in Scranton to bring attention to its problems.

The White House declined to comment.

Haggerty's criticism riled Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds Evie Rafalko McNulty, a Democratic National Committee member. She called Haggerty's approach "a disrespectful rant." If Haggerty's intended to highlight people's struggles, he should have called a town meeting, she said.

"To take to Facebook to 'diss' the president and vice president, I'd say it's just totally disrespectful," McNulty said. "How many cities would be honored to have the president and vice president both going to their cities?"

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to join the president in Scranton.

Mayor Chris Doherty, who will welcome the president and vice president, declined to comment directly on Haggerty's comments.

"I'm very proud to have the president and vice president. It is a great honor," Doherty said.

Haggerty said he was inspired mainly by the stories of people who visit his offices daily and their tales of struggling to survive.

"It's about creating an issue here," he said. "We're watching cities like Detroit fall and we're next. It's not the president's fault, but it's his problem and it's my problem. We have to find answers in the short term or it's going to be too late â¦ I care about the president, I care about everybody who puts their name on the line to run. I can't just go around taking pictures and pretending everything's OK. I can't do it."

Haggerty denied his criticism is an effort to gain publicity in preparation for his 2014 re-election campaign.

"I literally never worry about any person that I'm running against. I try to do the right thing," he said. "When you see these problems, you take it to heart. I know they're (his constituents are) going to be happy with me trying to get the president's attention. I'm not critical of the president. I'm trying to get his attention because we need help."

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

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